Study: Rapid 90-minute Covid-19 test shown to be highly accurate

A90-minute Covid-19 test has been shown to have over 94% sensitivity, and 100% specificity in a new study.

In the research, the high-speed tests, which do not require a laboratory and can be performed in cartridges smaller than a mobile phone, were used on 386 NHS staff and patients.

The work, published in the journal

The Lancet Microbe, was led by scientists from Imperial College London.

The Lab-in-Cartridge rapid testing device, which can be performed at a patient’s bedside, was shown to have over 94% sensitivity and 100% specificity, which meant it had a high level of accuracy and produced very few false negatives and no false positives.

The test is currently being used successfully across eight London hospitals, and due to be rolled out at a national level, and data continues to be gathered from the testing device for continual assessment.

The UK government recently placed an order for 5.8mn of the testing kits.

To perform the test, a paediatricsized nose swab from a patient is inserted into the device, which then looks for traces of genetic material belonging to the Sars-CoV-2 virus, which causes Covid-19.

A result is available within 90 minutes, compared to conventional Covid-19 testing which delivers a result in 24 hours.

The test is now being developed for assessing simultaneously Flu-A, Flu-B, and RSV as well as Covid-19.

The lead author of the study from the Department of Infectious Disease at Imperial College Professor Graham Cooke said: “These results suggest the test, which can be performed at a patient’s bedside without the need to handle any sample material, has comparable accuracy to standard laboratory testing.

Many tests involve a trade-off between speed and accuracy, but this test manages to achieve both.

Developing an effective bedside test in under three months has been an incredible collaboration between teams of engineers, clinicians and virologists”.